Coffee elite in Colombia and its participation in the Foreign Policy during the first half of the 20th century

Yulieth Estefani Martinez Villalba

doi:10.5752/p.1809-6182.2019v16n1p58

Abstract

This paper aims to bring some reflections of political-sociological contents of Colombian foreign policy by analyzing the participation of the coffee elite in the foreign trade policy during the first half of the 20th century, making evident the transcendence of the of National Federation of Coffee Growers (NFCG) and its leaders in the orientation of Colombia's foreign trade policy. 

Highlights

Colombia as a "Coffee Maker""Without coffee, the world as we know it would not exist"
This paper aims to bring some reflections about the participation of the Colombian coffee elite, grouped in the National Federation of Coffee Growers (NFCG), in the orientation of country 's foreign trade policy during the first half of the 20th century, when coffee's share in exports reached levels of 80%
Coffee, that is, the economic development determined by it and the social structures that were built around it - the formation of a coffee elite - is assumed as the explanatory variable that will allow us to understand economic development in Colombia and its relation to the place that this country occupied on the international scene during the first half of the 20th century

Summary

Introduction

M. Tucker, 2017 The role of coffee in Colombia goes beyond a simple commodity. Its importance in the socio-economic development of the country is undeniable and its transcendence in Colombia's international projection is a fact. Instances at local and regional level, until reaching the national level They were indicated some forms of participation of the coffee elite, mainly those related with people located in the places of decision of the NFCG, in the orientation of Colombian foreign trade policy in the first half of the 20th century. CAFE – as it is known – in the year of 1927, curiously, just 4 years later than the creation of Banco de la República – the Central Bank of Colombia (CARDÉNAS, 1993) This initiative arises from the need to organize the action of coffee producers through an organized collectivity, that is, a trade union organization separated from the former Colombian Farmers Society (CFS) -founded around at 1870, in an effort to bring together the different levels of the coffee production chain onto the same institution.

15 Santiago Rozo

Findings

Conclusions